TALK RADIO WATCH

Double standard: Only a leftist could say that

Exclusive: Kathy Shaidle notices no 'fat fascist' labels for liberals

Kathy Shaidle is a blogging pioneer whose FiveFeetOfFury.com is now in its 12th year. Her most recent book â€“ "The Tyranny of Nice: How Canada Crushes Freedom in the Name of Human Rights, and Why It Matters to Americans" â€“ features an introduction by Rush Limbaugh guest host Mark Steyn.

That seems to be the explanation for the media double standard that makes it acceptable for liberals to say things no conservative pundit could get away with.

Rush Limbaugh has taken a lot of grief for his description of President Obama as a “man-child.” Progressives explain that “man-child” is a lot like the word “boy,” which is, of course, a racial slur when used to describe an African-American. Or something like that.

Anyway, no such storm of controversy has rained down on the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, who recently declared bluntly, “You must always remember that the president is about six.”

Milbank explained: “According to unofficial presidential statistician Mark Knoller of CBS News, Obama has left the White House to play basketball 16 times so far, in addition to the countless times he has played on his home court. He’s shot 44 rounds of golf, gone fishing and played tennis. Total sporting-related events hosted at the White House: 45. That’s about six times the number of news conferences he has held.”

His entire column sounds a lot like a transcript from a conservative talk radio program. Yet for some reason, no one has started calling Milbank “fat,” “stupid” or “fascist,” or threatened him with physical violence. How odd.

Tunku Varadarajan said, “Rove should stick to his day job,” but Ann Althouse responded, “No one can step in and imitate Rush. With the exception of Mark Steyn, all of Rush’s guest hosts mostly make you think about how much better Rush is and: ‘When is Rush coming back?'”

As we told you last week, Rush Limbaugh finally joined Facebook. His official page features a chance to win a limited edition Apple iPad – and of course, his promised wedding photos.

These include a shot of Rush’s rarely seen call screener James “Snerdley” Golden, looking sharp in his tuxedo. On the air, Rush laughed at listeners who claimed they didn’t believe “Snerdley” was a real person, until now.

Fans quickly put together their own “wedding videos” using the watermarked photos, and posted them on YouTube:

Levin spoke with decorated Army veteran Allen West, who is running for the Republican nomination for Congress in Florida. West’s inspirational speeches on YouTube invariably go viral. At the end of this equally impressive interview, Levin endorsed West for the nomination (FREE audio).

Levin shared the sad news that his “buddy” Griffen, his mixed breed dog, was recently diagnosed with cancer.

A well-known dog lover, Levin told fans on his Facebook page: “[A]ll your prayers have made a difference. I’ll take as many days as I can get with my little buddy, as long as he does not suffer.”

Michael Savage

Michael Savage mocked other radio hosts who he said were overreacting to the death of former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens.

“I don’t know the man,” Savage explained, adding, “It happens. He was 86. He had a good life” (FREE audio).

“Rehab is a lie and doesn’t work,” declared Savage this week, during a show devoted to issue of drug legalization.

Savage strongly opposed the idea, arguing that the new taxes some libertarian say could be collected on legal drug purchases would simply be used to grow bigger government – hardly a libertarian ideal (FREE audio).

Laura Ingraham

Laura Ingraham had a laugh at Rep. Charlie Rangel’s expense, comparing him (and his distinctive voice) to a creepy character in the movie “Godfather II.” She was joined mid-week by author Michelle Malkin; together, the dynamic conservative female duel cited depressing example’s of Washington’s “culture of corruption.”

Newsweek’s Howard Fineman was one of Laura’s late mother’s favorite pundits, but Laura pounded him (and his fellow journalists) for not being tougher on an obviously inexperienced Obama before the election. Fineman admitted he and other reporters had been so entranced by the candidate’s image, they hadn’t bothered to investigate his background or policies thoroughly (FREE audio).

Glenn Beck

Beck started the week with a prank, pretending he’d fired sidekicks Pat Gray and Stu Burguiere, after some of their jokes were edited by progressive “watchdog” Media Matters to distort the pairs’ views (FREE audio).

A highlight this week was Beck’s chat with Fox News colleague Greg Gutfeld. The “Red Eye” host claims he is serious about opening a gay bar next door to the proposed Ground Zero mosque (FREE webcam).

On Thursday, Glenn Beck announced on the air that he has a new non-fiction book coming out this fall. Sure enough, Amazon.com is already listing “Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth and Treasure,” due out October 26.

“Beck is sort of like those beer ads with gobs of jiggling bodacious flesh, young men and women whooping it up to their hearts content with endless vistas of flowing ale from the manufacturers of Duff Beer – followed by the super-rapid sotto voce disclaimer, ‘Don’tdrinkanddrivedrinkresponsibly.’ … Beck spends his show feeding hysteria about obscure crap that, as ever, is going to doom us all. To nobody’s great surprise, somebody out at the end of the psychological bell curve then acts on that crap with his own hysterical response. [W]ho are we kidding if we completely exonerate Beck?”

And finally, from the left side of the dial …

“Whether drugs and alcohol influenced today’s Stephanie Miller Show isn’t clear,” wrote Radio Equalizer Brian Maloney. He was talking about a bizarre outburst by obscure actress Aisha Tyler, a guest on the program (FREE audio).

Much of her ribald exchange with Miller can’t be reprinted here. Suffice it to say, it contains a number of anatomical references, not to mention threats of physical violence against Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin.

Interestingly, Tyler’s weird scatological fantasies don’t seemed to have raised her profile in Hollywood this week. Surely that’s what she was hoping to achieve with her comments. Amusingly, she’d just agreed with Miller that the likes of Ann Coulter and Malkin say what they say simply to get attention and make money.

The really sad part is: Tyler didn’t see the irony and is probably now wondering why her phone isn’t ringing with showbiz offers.